


Legacy of Evil: Author's Commentary

by Psychic_Refugee



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Timelines, author's commentary, legacy of evil
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-05-16 07:28:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 17,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14806952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Psychic_Refugee/pseuds/Psychic_Refugee
Summary: Insights to the world of Legacy of Evil





	1. Timelines

**Author's Note:**

> **Because some do not have Tumblr, I want to have an alternate place I put all my thoughts and behind the scenes deliberations of Legacy of Evil**
> 
> This is the answer the Reviewer Sharkboy771: "Love it. Quick question[.] [A]ll the Queen[]s and King[s] were [alive] around the time of horse drawn carriages save [C]ruella. So is magic the reason for the jump to pre telegraph to iPhone times[?] [J]ust curious."
> 
> Hope this clears some stuff up. lol

For LoE, I basically have to re-write the timeline from Descendants, which is already mucking up the timeline of the original fairy tales.

So for the Original Descendants Timeline (“ODT”), we know that a) the Isle was created 20 years before the first movie takes place [“ **Once upon a time, long, long ago, well, 20 years ago…** ], b) Aurora and the inhabitants of the castle slept for 100 years [“ **Sleeping Beauty’s mother. Grammy, I don’t think you want to be talking to this girl. Unless you feel like taking another hundred-year nap**.”] and b) all adults are approximately the same generation/age, since the their children are in the same generation—give or take say ten years at most [I’m making an educated inference] in age between the adults, not counting FGM.

So if the first movie came out July 31, 2015 and assuming their time reflects real time (at least for the year if not month), then the Isle was created in 1995.

So that would put the VK’s and other’s ages and Year of Birth at:

Audrey, Ben, Chad, Doug, Evie, Gil, Harry, Jay, Mal, and Uma 16: 1999

Carlos 14: 2001

Dizzy 12: 2003

Belle 48: (“ **Uh, you decided to marry me at 28** ” “ **20 years ago, Belle married her beast** ”). So we assume the Isle was created in 1995 and they married same year.

Adam 52: Disney had the rose wilt/find love deadline at his 21st birthday. So assuming the end of the movie was his birthday and Belle was 17 (according to google), that makes him 4 years older than her.

So if Adam didn’t make a good decision until 42, that was in 2005. lol

So for ODT, FGM has raised the dead in order to place them on the Isle. This could account for all of the villains, although we’re not sure why FGM and the others would raise dead villains who have been dead for centuries.

What they don’t account for, however, are the heroes. The only explanations I can think of are that FGM has granted them immortality, near immortality via extended lives, or she has also raised heroes alongside of villains. My best guess would be the last option as FGM wouldn’t have known any of the ones before Cinderella (Aladdin/Jasmin, Mulan, Robin Hood, and Sleeping Beauty).

Again, no idea why they’d do any of that.

So for the LoE timeline, I am not having FGM have the power to raise the dead. a) It’d make her way more powerful than I would want  **any** character to be. Even a genie who is said to have reality bending phenomenal cosmic power can’t even raise the dead. b) IT MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE TO DO THAT.

So in order to reconcile  **all of that** , I’m having all fairy tale conflicts happen around the same time, making all of them contemporaries of each other, and shifting when Sleeping Beauty happened.

So Maleficent and Aurora’s story takes place in 1872, 175 years later than it would have. 

Maleficent 182: I assume that fae have very long lives. So assuming Maleficent was 39 (Angelina Jolie’s age in Maleficent) when she cursed Aurora, her birth year is 1833.

I also made all the Core Four the same age, writer’s prerogative, and they’re 17 when the story starts. So their birthdays are from Late 1999-2000.

Everything else I am making take place between 1988-1998, basically having all conflicts (fairy tales) happening in a ten year span. I prefer this as it gives a reason why 18 separate kingdoms with their own sovereign would unite under one king. If every kingdom was more or less at war, then they may unite under one crown to defeat their common enemy: evil magic beings.

So for LoE, none of the fairy tales take place pre-industrial revolution (1760) (telegraph invented in 1844).

Although, lets say it they were technologically pre-industrial revolution in 1995 (I’m sure some would say it might feel like that lol) I would say the jump from “pre telegraph to iPhone times” would be because of the LACK of magic. Necessity is the mother of invention, so assuming that magic played a prominent role in day to day life in Auradon (Sword in the Stone has magic doing dishes etc…, Fantasia has Mickey try to do mopping with magic), with the lack of magic—humans had to make up for this vacuum in work productivity, efficiency, and labor.

Lets also account for the presence of Mad Scientists, whom I would say is centuries more advanced than our real life time (various apocalyptic inventions etc…). So I think we could make the argument that Mad Scientists and regular genius scientists would take all the credit for taking Auradon through a rapid technological evolution.  


	2. Simpler Timeline

**Timeline: Original**

Mulan – 536

Robin Hood – 1191

Sleeping Beauty – 1697

Aladdin – 1704

Cinderella/Snow White – 1812

The Little Mermaid – 1837

Frozen – 1839

Tangled – 1839

Peter Pan – 1904

101 Dalmatians – 1956

* * *

 

**Timeline: Original Descendants**

Movie debut: July 31, 2015

Isle created 20 years beforehand, 1995

Belle and Beast married as Isle is created

Belle was 28 when they got married, born 1967

Belle was 17 when she was held hostage, their story takes place in 1984.

Beast was 21 when his curse was broken, born 1963

Beast “made a good decision at 42,” 2005

Belle is 48, Beast 52 in ODT at beginning of movie.

Ben is turning 16 (never states his birthday but lets assume before or around coronation), 1999

Mal, Jay, Evie 16, late 1998 to 1999

Carlos is 14, 2003ish.

Descendants 2 is 6 months after first movie.

* * *

 

**Timeline: LoE 2017-18**

Aurora Born, 1872

Aurora falls to curse, 1888

Aurora awakens, Fae Wars Start – 1988

All conflicts with Fairy Tales happen between 1988-98

Hun War of Northern Wei – 1997-98

Fae and Hun Wars end, Isle of the Lost created, Belle and Adam Marry, UKA is created - 1998

Isle Four – Born in various months between December 1999 and 2000

Beast made a good decision in 2008

Do math from previous chapter:

Belle, 1970: 47

Beast, 1966: 51

Married 1998, Ben born 1999

 


	3. Crown Prince and the UKA

Crown Prince of the United Kingdoms of Auradon.

I chose “Crown Prince” as Ben’s title for three reasons.

1.      I didn’t want him to be king. I have no idea why they would have a sixteen year old be king, especially when the current reigning king was alive and by all accounts healthy in body and mind. I saw a random “back stage” Disney video where Keegan Connor Tracy (Belle) made a playful comment where he was made king so they (Belle and “Beast”) could go on vacation. I don’t believe that is considered canon but it’s Disney, so maybe. But for Legacy of Evil, I wanted him to remain a lesser royal. Besides giving him a more realistic title, it also gives him a chance to still be a student at Auradon Prep. If he was literally king of an entire empire, there’s no way he’d have time to be in school. If he were king and student at the same time, then logic would dictate that he would have to have a regent - someone running the country on his behalf until he was of age or “ready.” But what would the point of a regent be if there’s still a former king around? Might as well stay king. So ignoring the gaping plot hole of making Ben a king creates, he’s Crown Prince. 

2.      There are other royals entitled with “prince,” namely Chad Charming. There are 18 Regions in Auradon. Most of these regions were former kingdoms and while not mentioned, I’d be surprised if there weren’t any other male heirs who would be considered princes. So I wanted a title that would differentiate between Ben and the others. “Crown” is a title in use in some real life monarchies to differentiate the heir/heiress apparent from their siblings. Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, wasn’t invested with the principality of Wales until he was in his twenties. So I felt entitling Ben with Crown Prince of Auradon City at 18 wasn’t infeasible. 

3.      Creating a “Crown Prince” with a principality also gave weight to a more absolute or possibly constitutional monarchy rather than a democratic one, which I felt made more sense. I can’t imagine anyone making such a quick and controversial decision such as allowing villain children into Auradon, did so without fear of being voted out. While the movie and books outright say King Beast was voted in as king, there is nothing else that suggests Auradon has any kind of democratic process. I can only assume it was some kind of pandering to the United States of America, which was probably Disney’s target audience. There also wasn’t any kind of indication that Ben was ever really challenged on his decision. Beast was angry but there was no threat to override him. That makes me believe Auradon is actually an absolute monarchy. Having no real opposition to any decisions he makes, is the only way I can see the VK’s actually making it to Auradon. Again, gaping plot hole will be filled in as I see fit. lol

Why “United  **Kingdoms**  of Auradon?

           While “state” isn’t necessarily wrong in terms of describing a politically unified area that lives under one non-sovereign government, it just doesn’t fit in with everything else we know about Auradon. Again, I think this is mindless pandering to the United States of America. At no other point is any geopolitical area called a “state.” The different geographical areas are called “Regions.” These regions are named with singular titles. It’s Cinderellaberg, Westerly, East Riding, etc…Nothing is “State of Cinderellaberg,” etc…Furthermore, the rulers of these areas are still given the title of king/queen or sultan. A realm that is ruled by a king (courtesy title or not) is called a kingdom. I also imagine that while these various independent kingdoms agreed to unify under Beast, they wouldn’t go as far as to erase the historical significance their family/titles held and take a downgrade from kingdom to state and minimizing their titles even further. Audrey mentions “Our royal blood goes back hundreds of years.” Titles and historical significance is important to these people.    


	4. King Adam and Isle Documentary

King Adam of House Bourbon

           I don’t refer to King Adam as “Beast” in this fic, at least not as a name/nickname for him. I feel like Adam’s time as Beast was probably a highly traumatic time in his life. Regardless if he were spoiled and “deserved” the curse, I don’t see it as something he would tolerate people referring to him as. Particularly since he’s the reigning King, it’s a too familiar name for anyone to call him even if he didn’t mind it. Besides Audrey emphasizing her title as Princess, it doesn’t seem like most stand on ceremony when it comes to royal titles in the movie or books. Despite that, even if it were a democratic monarchy where the title is temporary, it’s still a high position that would demand respect. Even in the United States of America, we would refer to the President as Mr. or Mdm. President. I think this oversight is due to a) target audience is the United States of America and they don’t really care about titles and b) the main target audience is children, they probably wouldn’t notice and it might seem too formal and off putting for them. I’m trying for more realism, at least my interpretation of that, so royal titles are used.

           King Adam’s trauma is the same reason I’ve removed all of the Beast imagery from Auradon. Anywhere the Beast in portrait is shown in the movie or referred to, I refer to it as the Auradon Lion. The statue in Auradon Prep doesn’t transform. I have several theories as to why magic is discouraged in Auradon, and it would conflict with any emphasis or what seems to be veneration of a time in his life where he is totally isolated and looked to have no hope.

           I chose to give them the royal House of Bourbon because Sleeping Beauty was published in 1740 and the ruling monarch of France at the time was Louis XV, “Louis the Beloved.” We’ll assume no type of revolution has occurred and all of Auradon has enjoyed an unbroken line of kings. lol

Isle of the Lost Documentary

           I needed Ben to have some other reason or motivation for inviting the Isle Kids to Auradon. Literally anything other than “I woke up one day and felt bad.” I know that the books allude to him dreaming of Mal before the events of the movie/books, but it didn’t feel like it was “enough” to warrant a complete rebellion against either the vindictive popular opinion the villains and by extension their children deserve the Isle or the utter malevolent indifference to what is happening on the Isle, potentially both. A “documentary” does two things. It can give a view into a world that most otherwise are not privy to in their day to day lives. It also gives people a chance to not watch it and still explain their indifference, it can give people a chance to watch it and still feel as they felt before. It’s simply a tool to spread information, the various reactions to the information I think say a lot about the characters.

Some are spurned to action, Ben. Some are indifferent, Audrey. And others feel it’s what is due, King Adam.

I wanted to give Ben some more depth. The movie really made him seem like a good-hearted but naive child king. He just kind of decides to do stuff and ignores a bunch of very problematic issues. So he sees the documentary and get a fuller picture of the Isle than he ever had before or probably ever would otherwise, mulls over it for a year, and then goes through the bureaucratic motions to get his idea done.

Why so much bureaucracy?

           Because that’s literally how most governments works. In a perfect world, good ideas are welcomed and fast tracked to completion. In the real world, issues like money and resources are major contributors to deadlock. Not to mention people’s own biases and motivations to impede a project. Even the “summer” it took to get just four Isle children to Auradon was an unrealistic timeline. My justification for it going as quickly as that is a mixture of quasi-absolute monarchy and Disney Magic. I do think Disney Glaze has its place, mostly when it would take SO LONG and basically be really boring to try to get laws passed in real time. Sure it bypasses the will of the people but it gets shit done. lol


	5. Cruella de Vil *CONTAINS SPOILERS*

So some back story for Cruella and Fisher de Vil.

“de Vil” is the original spelling in the novel The One Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith. The Disney variation is “De Vil.” The Disney version is more modern, I prefer the old style of “de.” I think it does a better job to indicate it is a nobiliary particle. That’s purely my own opinion and aesthetic preference.

I think keeping the older style expresses the de Vils of Auradon’s preference to keep any kind of hint of nobility, as I think it’d be a status symbol for them; regardless if they had an actual noble ancestor.

Cruella has a husband in the novel, in the animated and live action movies she is not married. In the latter, she (portrayed by Glen Close) is actually pretty critical about the institution of marriage. She says that “We lose more women to marriage than war, famine, and disease.” Cruella basically debased Anita for choosing marriage and acted as if she already gave up everything to be a SAHM. But before Cruella fired her for not selling her the puppies, by all accounts she had every intention of returning to work.

I don’t like that particular portrayal of Cruella. I think it shows her as bitter and unnecessarily critical of a woman’s choice when that wasn’t her personality in the books. She was written as this super domineering woman who ruled those around her with an iron fist, convention be damned. One way she is portrayed as draconian was to make her husband take her name rather than change her own. In 2018, it’s still very uncommon for a woman to even keep her name, much less her husband take hers. For a novel set in the 1950’s, I think it just shows how much Cruella doesn’t care about your feelings and isn’t taking any shit to get her way. I like “I have and make the money so I make the rules” more than “oh it’s another bitter spinster that hates men.” So instead of being critical of getting married at all, she would have admonished Anita (who was an accomplished designer for a world renowned fashion house) for not keeping her own name and not making Roger take hers, especially since he was still trying to find his money maker for games. Or Cruella would have been critical about how Roger was beneath Anita.

Having Cruella hate Anita getting married simply because she was getting married is irrational.

So that’s why I have Cruella married. The husband is never named in novel, but he is mentioned to be a furrier (someone who makes fur clothing). I chose “Fisher” because that was a common type of North American weasel that was used in the fur trade and sounded like someone’s name. The fact that he’s on the Isle with her, I think just showcases how domineering Cruella is; he can’t imagine a life without her so he follows her into exile.

I am taking from the animated and live action films Cruella’s occupation as a fashion designer/head of an haute couture fashion house. I think it lends an air of “I’m a mother fuckin’ boss.”  

**SPOILER for LOE**

 

 

 

 

Why have a conspiracy to get Cruella on the Isle?

Because I just don’t get why Cruella would be banished to the Isle in the first place.

Maleficent: Cursed a kingdom, tried to kill them all as a dragon. Doesn’t really indicate if she would have taken over the kingdom once they were dead, but lets say it’s a de facto coup.

Evil Queen: Animated – tried to kill a princess (Snow White), by extension had taken over SW’s kingdom by coup (overthrew SW who would have been her father’s heiress after he died.) EQ might have been named regent, but the story doesn’t really delve into that. Live Action – Same deal but on a larger level and it’s explicit that she killed the king. Had also terrorized the kingdom with dark magic.

Jafar: Took over Agrabah by magical coup, probably killed many on his way. Was going to kill the Royal family and Aladdin.

Cruella: Paid someone to steal puppies, had intentions to kill the dogs for fur. The movies had a car chase scene so lets add in reckless driving.

These crimes don’t really seem to be on the same level, do they? Cruella didn’t even get to the point of even killing the animals. She didn’t even really steal the dogs. For the most part, she’d be charged and convicted of solicitation of a crime and conspiracy to commit a crime. Because they were dogs, they’d be seen as property and I just can’t imagine a super harsh punishment, especially not twenty years ago. Maybe some jail time but I feel like she might have gotten away with a huge fine, probation, and revocation of her driver’s license.

So how does Cruella end up on an Isle filled with “real” villains? Greed. She has a cousin who wants to be in charge of the family business and money, he needs to get the materfamilias out of the way.

Otherwise they have a pretty LOW fucking bar for  not only eternal banishment, but banishment to a lawless island where it’s basically the hunger games every day. 


	6. Jay's Mother *SPOILER*

Fair warning, I’m touching upon race and my deliberative process may ruffle some feathers. I can stand by my work, so anyone who wants to go off on some tirade because they disagree will find me rather unmoved by it.

Unless you have a well thought out and articulate rebuttal, then I’m open. 

***SPOILER FOR LOE***

 

 

 

 

Why I made Jay’s mother a Hun.

Assuming Jay (the character) looks JUST like the actor Boo Boo Stewart, I wanted an explanation as to why he looks Korean-Japanese-Chinese/Native-Blackfeet/White when Jafar is from Agrabah. While there is no official ethnic makeup of Agrabah or any of the 18 Kingdoms, it’s supposed to be analogous to a generic country/muddling of countries in the middle east. I saw two different references that Agrabah is supposed to be near the Jordan river. So we’re talking about Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria. Wikipedia lists Iran and Iraq as sources of inspiration. The actor who plays Jafar in Descendants (Maz Jobrani) is Iranian. The royal family is Muslim (the Sultan refers to Allah at last once and the palace architecture is clearly Islamic). “Sultan” is an Arabic term. So we get a pretty distinct picture of Agrabah.

Now one could make the argument that we don’t ever get a full picture of  **where** Agrabah is in relation to the other 18 Kingdoms. I can’t even google a map of Auradon that distinctly carves it out, I think most references point to it being way up north, behind “the great wall” like Northern Wei is. So if we assume Agrabah and Northern Wei are next to each other geographically and the rest of Auradon is south, then I could see where Jay would get prominent Asian features and still be considered Agrabi. Think of an area where Agrabah and Northern Wei meet, you’d probably see people who look Nepalese, Bhutanese, Tibetan, and all up and down that general area; where Middle Eastern and Asian features mix in. So we would just have to say that Jay’s mother is from the more Northern Wei-ish part of Agrabah and ka-chow, his features are explained.

Sorry to any reader who is offended by this, I just didn’t think most would really think that deeply about it or even know geography well enough to figure it out and make those connections. So I wanted a more obvious character they could associate these features with, without having to somehow fit into the story where someone or something explained the geographical proximity of Agrabah and Northern Wei  **and** would understand that there is a distinct area where both countries would have influenced the ethnic/racial makeup.  

It’s also kind of hard to try to explain why someone from that area would have been banished to the Isle. By all accounts, Jafar was a lone wolf and never had like an army or others to have helped him besides Iago. And he doesn’t look like he has any Northern Wei features, so he’d be from a rather distant area from there.

Shan Yu was a warlord. I’m kind of thinking Attila the Hun/Genghis Khan type conqueror. I could see him having a few loyal camp followers/concubines that would have followed him to the Isle, along with any survivors of the Hunnic war with Northern Wei. That seemed more logical and likely, to me.  

I also assume most have this belief that certain countries have a very specific ethnic/racial makeup and anyone who doesn’t have those features is an immigrant and therefore never really part of that country, regardless of how many generations removed they are from the initial immigration.

I recently did a post/reblogged about making Evie black, even though the story of Snow White has German roots. There were some people who were like, what? No way. But there are black people born and raised in Germany, they speak German. Germany is all they’ve known. That makes them German. But not everyone thinks that way, so I do take that into account.

So even if I did try to assert that Jay’s lineage is simply from an area in Agrabah that would have mixed with Northern Wei racially, I just don’t think it would have clicked in readers’ heads as well as: Jafar is from Agrabah, Jay’s mother is a Hun = Jay’s features explained.

Plus I think it’s kind of cool and fun that I created a whole distinct subgroup of Huns that have warging powers. I read that Shan Yu’s eyes (black sclera and gold irises) were supposed to be explained by him having warging powers with his falcon. I expounded that to creating a specific tribe that has these features/powers. This aspect is never verified, at least not by my research, but I think it’s fun so I kept it.


	7. Alternate Timeline Explanation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was given a rebuttal to my theory of Northern Wei and Agrabah being neighbors, please see chapter 6. This argument put forth a "Great Uniting" theory which assumes that all 18 Kingdoms are from different dimensions. The anon believes this is canon, I do not. So this was my reply to that rebuttal and why I do not believe the Great Uniting happened as conveyed.

“The Great Uniting happened because London is the ONLY place with modern tech while everyone’s in the dark ages, you don’t see Rome or all the other Islands of Greece where the Pantheon is now, and Frozen Fever explicitly had a VERY different world map that shows no place for the Southern Isles, and a different topography in general at that.

Also, it’s JUST Bayou de New Orleans on a map. Where’s the rest of America if they weren’t transplanted there…?”

I got these two questions, I assume they are from the same Anon.

The simplest explanation is that Disney is greedy and has really lazy writers, so they just kind of mish mash whatever they have copy rights to into Auradon and called it a day. There is not going to be any clean perfect fit theory to explain all the inconsistencies.

The first novel can’t even decide if it’s United Kingdoms of Auradon or United States of Auradon.

“Once upon a time, during a time after all the happily-ever-afters-, and perhaps even after the ever-afters after that, all the evil villains of the world were banished from the **United Kingdom of Auradon** and imprisoned on the Isle of the Lost.” De La Cruz, Melissa,  _The Isle of the Lost: A Descendants Novel_ , Prologue 3, Disney-Hyperion, 2017. 

“Meanwhile, across the Sea of Serenity, which separated the Isle of the Lost from the rest of the world, lay the USA—the  **United States of Auradon** , a land of peace and enchantment, prosperity and delight, which encompassed all the good kingdoms.” De La Cruz, Melissa,  _The Isle of the Lost: A Descendants Novel_ , Chapter 5 at 48, Disney-Hyperion, 2017.

Within the SAME book, there is conflicting statements of the proper name of Auradon. I think this is a good example of how much they don’t care about their content.

I’m not saying the interdimensional displacement theory is impossible, the franchise is so terribly written that literally anything can be possible. I’m mostly saying there isn’t anything to back it up. While cherry picking countries from other dimensions would explain the time/technology difference, it also brings in more issues and plot holes than it would solve.

1)      The first question is why? If each kingdom was from a separate dimension, why steal others and bring their problems (villains) into your own? Why go through the hassle? Who has anything to gain from it? If they wanted more people and land to rule, wouldn’t it have been easier to just create the land and tell people you already rule to just have a ton more kids?

2)      Yen Sid and Fairy Godmother (“FGM”) are from different dimensions under this theory. FGM is from Cinderellaberg and Yen Sid is from Fantasia, a yet to be placed area in Auradon. If Fantasia is in one of the fairy tale lands and not its own, then it’s probably in Charmington given the wardrobe and originally the Apprentice was supposed to be Dopey. Either way, those are two different dimensions. So how would FGM and Yen Sid have known each other in order to bring these countries together? What would motivate them to seek each other out? Again, their villain problem had been solved. FGM didn’t even have a real villain to contend with, Lady Tremaine was just a bitch. FGM was also the most powerful person in Cinderellaberg, why take in a powerful evil Fairy like Maleficent to her world?

3)      How do you get 18 Kingdoms from different universes to not resent being brought together against their will? Or to “vote” to one sovereign ruler right away? In order for Auradon to be as peaceful as shown, then the 18 Kingdoms are a) at peace with the idea that they are in a different dimensions, b) get along with the other kingdoms despite the vastly different cultures and probably religion, and c) were able to agree upon not only to unite under one ruler but that raising dead adversaries and banishing them to an island was a good idea. I’d be pissed as all hell, especially if I was a king or queen. Who is anyone to not only steal my land and my throne, but to raise dead adversaries that I risked my life to defeat? How could they have gotten along so quickly and kept peace for twenty years?

4)      If interdimensional travel, along with merging lands, is possible then why bother with an island so close to the Mainland? Why not banish them to an inhabitable planet that doesn’t have magic? Seems simpler and safer than having them in your proverbial back yard. At the very least put them somewhere further than what a bridge could span.

5)      Interdimensional unification is a rather significant occurrence. I’m pretty sure that would have been mentioned on top of unifying kingdoms.

6)      If interdimensional communication is possible (That’s how Yen Sid and FGM got together) then why would they say “Our villains are dead and we’re our own sovereign nation…but I feel like combining with 17 other interdimensional kingdoms and giving up my own power…also, lets bring back the villains that almost killed us and put them on an island…for funsies you know? I’m totally sure we’ll all be super cool with each others religion, customs, and taboos. It’s not like people go to war over this stuff…Furthermore, villains only account for like .0000001% of our population, that’s totally worth giving up our sovereignty and displacing every other citizen, right?”

I’m sure all of this could be answered, but I doubt with canon. Nothing in the movies, what I’ve seen in Book 1, or researching online suggests interdimensional displacement.

But to answer Anon’s questions and assuming a) the princess/Disney movies’ timeline and whatever happened is absolute and unassailable and b) what happens in the Descendants franchise is also absolute and unassailable.

For both the Disney princess movies and Descendants, everything is taken at face value and literal.

So to answer your questions,

1)      London is the ONLY place with modern tech while everyone’s in the dark ages

2)      you don’t see Rome or all the other Islands of Greece where the Pantheon is now, and

3)      Frozen Fever explicitly had a VERY different world map that shows no place for the Southern Isles, and a different topography in general at that.

4)      Also, it’s JUST Bayou de New Orleans on a map. Where’s the rest of America if they weren’t transplanted there…

**Answers**   

1a) We do not know the exact structure of Auradon, such as how far each kingdom is away from the other. I’ve seen maps, but most seem to be fan made and not canon. The map shown in the first movie can’t be to scale. So I’m going to assume there’s no reliable map in existence. 

If London has 1950’s technology such as cars, radios, and phones then perhaps London is so isolated from the other kingdoms that it went on its own technological evolutionary path. Real world example, United States of America has cars, computers, etc…there are tribes in the Amazon that have literally no modern technology. These are two independent entities with vastly different levels of technology existing on landmasses that connect. Depending on how far or isolated London was in relation to other kingdoms, I would say it’s possible they had this technology that the other kingdoms hadn’t invented yet. One explanation could be that Cruella’s story never had magic, so by extension maybe London was the only place in Auradon that was magicless by nature. Not having magic could have spurned their technological revolution while others lagged behind because magic made up for the lack of technology.

There’s also the instance of Camelot Heights. According to the internet, King Author “dislikes” the idea of modern technology and there isn’t any in Camelot Heights, so they’re still technologically in the dark ages. It’s possible other kingdoms had followed suit pre-Unification. A real world example of this is parts of the USA have groups that shun technology, such as Mennonite and the Amish, it’s an example of two groups having vastly different levels of technology by choice.

2a) There’s nothing to suggest Rome would exist in Auradon. While in a Whole New World we see roman columns, it’s not explicitly said to be Rome (not to mention how fast they would have had to have flown in order to get there in one night from Agrabah and back) and they could have very well been Greek columns as Greece had originated that architecture. To explain the Greece and the gods pantheon, I would say it’s coincidental that part of Auradon is named Greece. The fact that Hercules was trained by Phil the satyr, and not Chiron the centaur would suggest these are different but coincidentally named people. Also, real world Zeus is the worst, while Disney Zeus is a loving faithful father. Real world Hades is rather chill, considered boring, and is happy to stay in the Underworld, Disney Hades is a hot tempered villain. Real world Hercules went insane and killed Megera and their children, Disney Hercules gained and gave up immortality for Megera. I would definitely be comfortable saying these are all completely different people, and that Auradon’s Greece is divorced from real world Greece.

3a) There’s nothing to suggest Frozen is part of the Descendants universe, at least nothing I’ve come across says any of their characters have shown up. So until a book or movie suggests otherwise, I think we can say it doesn’t exist in the United States/Kingdom of Auradon and it might be one of the few Disney kingdoms that was able to keep their own sovereignty and Arendelle is a separate country somewhere, or doesn’t exist at all. I don’t necessarily think it could be assumed that if Disney made it, it’s in Auradon somewhere. We haven’t seen any references to the Lion King, Duck Tales, Brave, etc…

4a) I would say the USA doesn’t exist as the movie only ever mentions a place called New Orleans, Louisiana and a kingdom called Maldonia. New Orleans, Louisiana, United States/Kingdoms of Auradon is coincidentally named the same as New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. If people insist that it’s in the USA, then where is Maldonia? The existence of Maldonia suggests to me that Bayou de New Orleans can’t be in the USA or from our world at all.

Do all of these fit perfectly and make 100% sense with no need to suspend belief? No. Do they make more sense than interdimensional displacement? I think so. Is interdimensional displacement canon? I don’t think so and so far, no one has put forth anything to convince me it is.

If it is canon then I still say it’s problematic for all the reasons I’ve listed and would never be part of LOE.


	8. Evilette “Evie” Von Weither

I chose Von Weither as an homage to most of the fairy tales starting “Once upon a time, in a Land Far Away.”

Von Weither means “from far away” in German. The “von” is a nobiliary particle, equivalent to “de, d’, du, etc…” I chose the Grimm’s version of Snow White to be their base, so I wanted Evie to be German-ish.

In the first movie, Evil Queen (“EQ”) has a line: “Evie, my little Evilette in training, you just find yourself a prince with a big castle and a mother-in-law-wing.”

Now I’m pretty sure she says “evilette” in the sense of a pet name or added in “ette” to make “evil” diminutive. But I thought it was cute and chose to “hear” EQ say it as if it were her name.

I don’t see anywhere where it states if Evie is her full name or a nickname. I think most think it’s short for Evelyn, Evangeline, and other derivatives. Perhaps the 3rd movie will shed some light, but I think Evilette is as good a guess as any.

If we’re going by Disney and taking it literally, then EQ is named Evil Queen. And then naming her daughter “Evilette” is kind of naming her after herself. Like there’s EQ and little EQ. Real world example: Nicole and Nicolette. 

EQ is named in some variations, Wikipedia says it was supposed to be Grimhilde but they chose to have her remain nameless. I’m assuming Disney at the time decided on not naming her Grimhilde as it sounded kind of German (at least to me, kind of like Broomhilda/ Brünhilde, might have been a nod to Grimm’s fairy tales) and wanted to keep the exact location of Snow White unknown. It’s any “far away” land in Europe, easier to not step on any cultural toes if it’s an unnamed land.

Grimhilde I’ve seen as Evie’s last name, which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. If EQ’s name was Queen Grimhilde, then it’s her forename not her surname. Royalty generally don’t have surnames, at least not like common people. They have noble dynastic houses, but that’s not a surname in the traditional sense. But that’s also assuming EQ was a royal from a dynastic house, we really don’t know where she came from. Even if she had a surname, I doubt it’s Grimhilde as they wouldn’t address her by her surname. e.g. Queen Elizabeth II, not Queen Windsor.


	9. BriEva Comments

This “chapter” is to answer BriEva. Sorry I don’t reply to comments, AO3 counts my responses as comments and my non-clinical OCD does not like that at all. I want people to see my comment count and know that it’s JUST comments and not replies. So it’s a true count rather than bulked up. That’s just my neurosis. Normally I respond to reviews/comments for the next chapter, but there are a lot of points you’re making so I wanted to respond. I hope you're able to see this. lol

** Jane’s hair. **

I think “forcing” is kind of a strong word. Jane has never said she didn’t want her hair dyed. She does, she wants to fit in with her human peers. She was super excited to have her hair done. Remember, for the first three years at Auradon Prep, she has been the only fae student until Mal came. While some humans do have very light platinum blonde hair, we’re talking fae platinum blonde. I use the words “star lit” to convey that it’s kind of an ethereal colour. So while it could be considered human, it certainly isn’t common and would makes them stand out. What Jane resents or doesn’t want is the store bought dye.

So she’s stuck in a hard place. She wants to fit in, she wants to appear innocuous and human. And growing up and living with such anti-magic sentiment, particularly against the fae because of the Fae Wars, it’s not surprising that FGM and Jane would try to assimilate. But with fae hair being difficult to hide, she has to rely on what she can afford which causes undesirable results.

But the fact that while it looks bad they still do it, which I think conveys that it’s still better than the alternative: to appear “too fae.”

So the tension lies in what each thinks is appropriate. FGM doesn’t think it appropriate for Jane to accept such a lavish gift of Iliofáneia hair appointments, Jane doesn’t see it as a big deal.

Part of FGM’s reason might be because of guilt, but I think that FGM is professional enough that she wouldn’t show that kind of leniency. And to force kids to drastically change their hair at an expensive salon on the Crown’s dime seems like it’s not worth the fight.

We also have to remember that FGM is Jane’s mother, not Mal or Evie’s. I think she knows she has no real authority to dictate what their hair looks like unless it’s against school code and that’s only as headmistress. The spirit of the dress code is to stop students from looking ostentatious or outlandish. It stops students from dying their hair say purple or blue. BUT with Mal and Evie that’s their natural hair, and by the rules taken literally they are OK. The administration may define natural to specifically mean natural  **human**  colours or give a list that excludes specific colours for the next school year. I’ve seen it happen where the school code book wasn’t specific in some area, a student contested their dress choice (height of the heel of a shoe) and won because they technically were not breaking the dress code. BUT for the next year, the school revised the code to specify heel height and they couldn’t wear the same shoes anymore.

I think that’s common enough, where a parent has a set of rules and expectations for their own children, but for others’ children they do not try to assert that same kind of authority. Basically “Not my circus, not my monkeys.” There are some adults that think they’re everyone’s parent and can therefore give their opinion or orders at will, but FGM isn’t one of them. lol

I would like to think that FGM would allow Jane to have her natural hair if that’s what she really wanted. When raising children in an environment that could be potentially hostile to them if they are seen as outsiders, you try to have them fit in as best they can. Sometimes cultural assimilation is a matter of survival. So FGM having Jane dye her hair as a matter of course when she’s younger, I think is understandable. Does it suck? Yes. Sometimes you have to make that decision, stand firm and potentially face backlash or give in. Maybe if it were just FGM, she would have decided to keep her hair natural. But with a daughter, do you want to make that stand and have her also face that backlash? I think it’s a tough choice that parents go through.

** Existence of the Curl & Dye **

It does not exist in LOE. This is a creative decision, I just don’t think a modern salon like that would exist as is in an impoverish island. I do mention that brothels do have some hair care devices, such as flat irons, and I would assume hair dryers would be part of that (assuming these are part of the cast off technology the Mainland gives away). But it would really only pertain to brothels, for the most part I don’t see enough of a middle or higher class population on the isle to support an independent salon. And since brothels compete with each other, they wouldn’t want to share this space anyway. So all brothels have in house beauticians/they do it themselves to cater to their needs.

For the other non-brothel citizens, I see more of a do it yourself/family does it deal if they do it at all. Think pre-industrial revolution and a society that struggles with food shortages and no real medical care. Celebrations, if any, are few and far between. So the reasons to have done up hair are pretty rare. And in the rare instances, it would be family members who help groom each other.  

** Mal’s Dad **

Is not Hades nor is he Chernabog. Both of these characters are actual gods. In LOE, that’s just not a thing. While I get that the franchise wanted to utilize all the bad guys they have copy rights to, it implies that FGM is above godlike powerful and I don’t want her to be. I get that Hades is recognizable and little kids don’t care, but I do so none of the gods reside on the Isle of the Lost.

We are getting closer to finding out who Carlos’ dad is, but no spoilers for that.

** Cruella’s sentencing. **

I will delve more into the exact nature of what happened to get Cruella on the Isle, no spoilers. I want to make the distinction of her “innocence” however. Do not think of Cruella as innocent, as if she did nothing wrong, she did; while it can’t be said she physically stole the puppies she did pay others to do so. That’s still a crime. Her erratic behavior while driving endangered the public, that’s still a crime. These crimes, however, are not in my opinion enough to get her onto the Isle. Even if she had physically taken the puppies and killed them, that would not have (in my opinion) warranted a full banishment to the Isle.

Cecil's exact role in her sentencing will be addressed, no spoilers. But I will say that he is not responsible for her mental state. I just don't see him being able to pull essentially poisoning her for a long period of time to do permanent brain damage. 

** Cruella having a fae line of clothing **

No, that is not the reason she was sent away. I will get into more of King Adam and Cecil’s motivations for getting rid of Cruella, but it has nothing to do with aspirations or plans with her fashion line.

It’s a plausible idea and fun thought, but it’s not for LOE.

** Cause of the Fae Wars **

Yes, that is quite the question isn’t it? (<.< ) (>.>) tee hee hee. You are touching on a lot of good topics but I won’t say which ones, if any, pertain to this story, no spoilers.

** The Isle Four when they hit 18 **

There will be significant events that happen when the Isle Four reach 18 but that will be revealed in time, no spoilers. Originally I wanted to have the Winter Recital happen in Ch. 11, but fleshing out Jane, Carlos and Mal's relationship, the Isle Four's relationship was longer than I originally thought it would be so I opted to cut it until the next chapter. We will see the effects of Carlos turning 18.

** Jane having "fantasies" of Carlos **

I honestly do not see Jane doing this. It's not to say women in general wouldn't (Audrey was clearly effected by making out with Ben), but Jane I see as rather innocent and grew up with stories of gallant knights and princes. So she dreams of meeting her “Prince” and getting married and kids. But she doesn’t really think of the path to get said kids, to her they are something that just happens. lol

** Jane’s grudge **

I wouldn’t akin her grievance with Mal with animated versions of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. The latter two are pretty straight forward villains. Jane I would hope is a little more complex. lol Yes, her desire for Carlos is part of the reason. But we see a more or less ostracized girl no friends just that desperately wanted her own Cinderella moment, but was refused by Mal. Mal does have magic and probably could have helped her, but self-preservation stayed her hand. Jane erroneously sees this as purposefully malicious. With no friends, she has no one to talk this through with; she has no one to give her a different perspective. That seed grows when she thinks of all the times Audrey warned Mal was bad. Audrey blaming Mal for her break up with Ben just cements the idea she was already nurturing. Jane also has this over romanticized version of Carlos in her head, which happens with people you’re infatuated with and convince yourself that you’re in love with them. She thinks he needs saving and that he was just this completely helpless victim in the Isle, but deep down is noble--that he's really just a Prince underneath it all.

Also, when you grow up thinking villains are on the Isle and everyone in Auradon is the hero, it’s hard to see your own behavior (especially when you think you’re “saving” someone) as problematic. Jane sees herself as the hero, just like her mother with Cinderella.

** All topics that will be touched on in time, no spoilers: **

If Ben finds love and gets over Mal  
Carlos’ family and money  
Audrey and Jane’s plans for the love spell  
Update on the Isle while the Isle Four are gone  
Mal’s possible allergy to iron

Please feel free to comment as much as you want. I hope I answered all your questions/topics.

 

 


	10. Carlos' Dad

I have to say, it’s been super fun writing the little hints and seeing people pick up on them. 

I do want to clarify some things.

Gods do exist in some shape or form, I never said they didn’t. I just don’t want them mating with humans and having demi-gods running around Auradon Prep. Especially not for Mal. Like I agree with most people that 1) the franchise is the Mal show and 2) they are just having her get everything.

I like to think my version of Mal is a little bit more well-rounded and not the next ruler of the Auradon universe. 

When I say I’m not going to “define” the gods, I mean I’m not going to give a neat little package that explains exactly who or what they are in relation to modern Auradon humans/fairkind. I kind of want to keep their status ambiguous. 

I said Chernobog and Hades are not Mal’s father. And I implied I didn’t want any god to be father to any of the VKs and I stand by that. 

I want to also round back to my first chapter warnings. I cherry pick what I like from the Disney universe AND any associated myth or media with these characters. So think other incarnations of some of these characters from original fairy tales to other interpretations from all sources. 

Also remember that I do make things work (I hope lol), so Carlos’ father is not going to be perfectly canon to any one source but I will make him make sense in LOE. 

I’m really curious as to what people think are the hints. I know a lot of people are saying his “wolf” traits (I do not confirm or deny these are lupine), so besides his physical traits, what else are people thinking are hints?


	11. Trying to Procrastinate

I seriously don’t want to do my homework. Anyone have any requests on something LOE or AAC related they want me to expound upon and do an Author’s commentary on? I'll even take non-fanfic topics. lol


	12. Merlin Institute of Magic (MIM)

I’ll admit I haven’t FULLY developed this institution just yet, but here are my main ideas:

I see it as the lone bastion of mainstream magic. Camelot Heights is already the odd duck out since it’s the only kingdom without technology by design. It’s said that king Arthur “dislikes” the idea. And why not, he was taught under Merlin. Why have technology when magic works just fine? I see Merlin as he is in Harry Potter and other mythos as this really powerful and important magical figure, legendary—perhaps so much so that the Crown leaves him to his own devices. While most kingdoms fall in line, I see Camelot Heights as the outlier that still holds onto magic—especially since they have no technology so I also see it where magic is still practice even for mundane tasks such as doing chores.

I see Camelot Heights as being “allowed” to do this, you get into the idea of individual kingdom rights verses the overarching United Kingdoms system. So Camelot Heights asserts its authority to dictate their own laws within their borders,  King Adam feels it’s not worth the fight so doesn’t do anything to enforce the law as long as the magic stays put.  

Real world example is the United States of America. You have a federal government and each state has rights to their own laws as long as they do not conflict with federal law (see Supremacy Clause, U.S. Const. art VI, cl. 2). Marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug according to federal law. That’s the highest ranking the USA gives to drugs. There are several states that have legalized it in some form (medical and/or recreational). There are various reasons why the federal government has not stopped states from selling when at bottom it’s still an illegal drug. One reason is enforcement is expensive, another is the balance of recognizing state rights. But my point is that you have instances where something may be illegal on the books, but the overarching authority of the lands chooses not to pursue enforcing their own laws.

Magic at the same time is also highly regulated. So while I’ve shown that there is tons of paperwork involved to **use** magic, I also see tons of schooling/certificates in order to  wield magic. They don’t want just any rando off the street. You have to study and prove you can wield it competently.

Nadine FéeMarraine has three magical doctorates, she still can only use her magic in very specific circumstances.

So while King Adam may not like that people still use magic, I think he knows there are some instances where it does benefit the Crown (barrier around the Isle) and there are still some cultural ties Auradon has to magic that the citizens aren’t willing to give up entirely (christenings). I can see the King as seeing MIM and by extension Camelot Heights as a necessary evil.

I imagine MIM like Brakebills. It’s for post graduate work, you have to have some sort of baseline amount of magic in order to get in. I see Auradon at large not really trusting magic to anyone younger than 22, seeing them as too immature or emotional to wield such powers. MIM really focuses on magical theory and the law regarding magical use. I see it as a very stringent and regulated coursework where only approved forms of magic are taught and everyone gets the same test the same way. You sink or swim according to the guidelines set forth by non-magical bureaucrats.

And I see this as opposed to natural fae magic where normally one would learn magic from their family. They would use a grimoire, spells that have been passed down and added to over the generations, where magic is intimate and everyone gets individual attention and learn what magic means to them. Where you learn magic from the moment you can understand and the rules that go with it by observing how your family uses it and how deeply entwined it is with your everyday life.


	13. Answering Anon

Anon: I have two questions, although one of them may have been answered in the first authors commentary;  
Firstly, considering most of their timelines are almost centuries apart, how does having all the Disney villains co-exist actually work? Are they immortal? But if they are, and that’s attributable to their magical powers, shouldn’t having the dome prevent them from being immortal?

Secondly, this is more to do with a conspiracy theory regarding Aladdin and his timeline. Many people suspect that Aladdin is set centuries into the future, will this play any effect in your stories? And what is your stance on this theory?

 

 

* * *

 

Ok, I have two timelines that I accept as “headcanon.” One for LOE and another for the franchise as is.

LOE: The timeline ignores the original Disney movies in any incarnation (e.g. 101 Dalmatians-Animated Movie (1940’s) and 101 Dalmatians Live Action (1990’s)). I created the Fae Wars as an impetus for all conflicts of each villain happening in the same ten year span (1988-1998). I ignore basically any timeline for each movie, and just place them all happening around the same time/concurrent. So it’s modern Northern Wei, Agrabah, etc…So nothing happens in any pre-industrial revolutionary time period for any of the kingdoms. This also includes 101 Dalmatians, which originally takes place in the 40’s/50’s. The only exception being Sleeping Beauty since Audrey specifically mentioned the 100 yrs the castle is asleep because of the curse. But even that is brought forward to 1872 rather than 1697. LOE’s timeline is explained in the first chapter of Author’s Commentary.

I chose to create my own timeline to fix all the inconsistencies and plot holes of having so many of the stories take place in different times and the total nonsensical reasons the franchise came up with. I thought it was neater, and I wanted to give more legitimacy to banishing the villains rather than trying to make “we decided to raise dead villains who have been dead for decades or even centuries because of reasons…but we’re not going to address how their heroes are also alive at the same time…” work. If they had to raise dead villains who had lived so long ago, then at the same time they must have also raised dead heroes. If that’s not the case, I also didn’t want to try to make anyone immortal. So by having all these villains be contemporaries of each other, we get rid of raising the dead issue and every villain was captured rather than dying.

I think this also gives more legitimacy to uniting the 18 Kingdoms rather than they “voted” to have one king randomly one day. King Adam is seen as the spearhead that united the kingdoms to defeat magical foes, so it assumes that every kingdom was at war with their respective villain at the same time. It does kind of water down each kingdom’s hero’s accomplishments (defeating their own villain on their own), especially for Mulan but unless I wanted to get rid of the United Kingdoms altogether, I couldn’t really see a way around it. I just can’t see 18 individual kingdoms and their monarchs willing to give up their own sovereignty unless they were in dire straits.

Franchise: For non-LOE timelines, if I HAVE to explain the tech differences but still at the same time have these nations on the same continent AND the heroes/villains are still alive then my explanation would be each kingdom was on its own independent technological evolutionary path but still contemporaries of each other. And again, I think making anyone immortal is just silly. Long lived? Sure, for the fae. For humans, that makes no sense or would need the help of magic which Auradon is against. Anyone immortal? No, just no. It’s fine if that’s what other people want to do but for LOE or my own personal headcannon, it’s just convoluted and makes things messy.  

If we take the franchise and original Disney animated movies as is, then it suggests that FGM raised villains that have been dead for centuries if not longer to all live on the Isle…because in their modern view, dying wasn’t “punishment enough.” Or they have some warped sense of charity and think they’re giving villains a second chance…to live in poverty with no parole? Yeah, the lack of logic in the franchise hurts my brain.

East Riding/London I see as naturally magic free (since 101 Dalmatians never mentioned magic). So I would see their need to develop technology as greater than a kingdom who could use magic for their needs. I would also assume that Auradon is vast enough where East Riding was isolated, and that would explain why they had the tech AND other kingdoms did not follow suit. There is also the possibility where kingdoms, like Camelot Heights, were slow to accept this advanced tech even if they were aware of it.

I would also assume that any nation or city named in Auradon that also shares a name in the real world (e.g. Greece and New Orleans) is not the same entity. Two reasons I assume this are a) the tale of Disney Hercules and Real World Hercules are vastly different. Chiron vs. Phil, Good Father Zeus vs. The Worst Person Ever Zeus, and Chill and Boring Hades vs. Hot Head Hades.

I know with Disney they have to make these changes because otherwise they wouldn’t be able to use any Greek or Roman myth ever, but I use it as a convenient excuse to say they were different worlds. lol 

With New Orleans, in Auradon it’s called Bayou de Orleans and there’s the presence of Maldonia, a country not seen in the Real World. So that to me says New Orleans in Auradon is its own separate entity from Real World New Orleans in the United States of America.

So given this, we do not have to adhere to strict timelines where in the Real World they happened on such and such date. These entities can have whatever date we want to give them, or at least be open to interpretation.

There is an interdimensional displacement theory that sort of explains the timeline difference. It states that each kingdom was part of its own dimension, somehow and for some inexplicable reason they all merged to create Auradon.

Some think this is canon, I am not one of those people. I don’t think it’s supported whatsoever in any media and in general makes no sense and causes more problems than it would solve. I go over many of the issues with this theory in chapter 7.

I do not know this Aladdin is in the future theory in depth, I think it has to do with goofy anachronistic jokes on Genie’s part (e.g. mimicking Groucho Marx and stating he's been trapped for 10k years). I think you could make it work but that’d be more exposition, mental gymnastics, and research I’m not willing to do. lol. So no, I do not plan to use this theory for LOE or any story yet.

I do not know of any other theory for the timelines, I think most are happy to just go with it and ignore any conflicts with the original Disney movies and the Descendants timelines. But the two (I think even the one for LOE could work for other non-LOE stories) I came up with I think make the most sense. But I'm also open to more timeline theories if anyone has them. 


	14. Answering BriEva

 

Here’s the original map :[https://tinyurl.com/yc3y5xnv](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2Fyc3y5xnv&t=ZmY5NzMzZWZiZGQwNzViYmUxNTFkZDlmNDQ2YzA1ODI0NGI1NWExMCxQWXl2OVE0aw%3D%3D&b=t%3ADrLymxcFiLnc41n03HTdiA&p=https%3A%2F%2Fpsychic-refugee.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F177255171930%2Fauthors-commentary-answering-brieva-heres-the&m=1)

 

BriEva: MIM had been on my mind because I was wondering why Mal doesn't go there. But if its a Grad school she might not be able to go for a while.

Other questions, now if there is a map of all the kingdoms where are the Moors and fairylands located?

Also magical children, are they homeschooled for a time before going into society?

Random thing, but in some stories the death curse of the Isle is there and in others it isn't. What is your take on the not dying on the Isle curse?

Personal headcon looking for others thoughts on it. But if the curse is on the Isle do you think it effects those born on the Isle differently rather than people who are put there or visit there regularly? I personally think it would be horrorfying if thd kids born on the Isle are semi immortal. Like they can't die, but they continue to age.

 

* * *

 

 

Yeah, not only would Mal not be able to go to MIM yet, I also don’t see her wanting to. For non-Auradonian fae, I feel like they’d see it as too human or unnecessary. What magic they want to know, they’d have learn from their family or probably on their own via a grimoire.

Even if MIM catered to younger students, I don’t think Isle kids would want it known they could do magic. I see them as playing those cards close to their chest, such as they do in LOE. If they don’t know what they can do/how powerful they are then they can’t plan to combat them.

I can’t find an official detailed map of Auradon, but I think we get a general layout or commonly agreed to areas. I see the Moor being northeast of Auroria, so like it would border between Auroria and East Riding with Auradon City northwest of it. (see red markings)

As for fairylands, I would assume there is the Moor, Neverland, Enchanted Forest (I assume, I do not think this is canon at all), Atlantica (assuming mermaids are considered like some sort of aquatic/water fae), and Stormhold (only for LOE because I love Stardust).

So I have indicated that fairy realms have been closed off. So with Stormhold and Neverland, those are places no one can go to anymore. The Moor will eventually be expounded upon. Atlantica will be the one still available to humans as Ariel was able to keep relations going.

Neverland is placed as an island across from East Riding. This could work if we assume the London in the movie is actually Real World London and when they fly to Neverland, they’re actually flying to the world Auradon is in. If humans from our world can go to Neverland, then we assume they could go to Auradon and may have settled there. That would explain why some areas have similar names to ours. We have to tendency to repeat names.

I choose not to do this for LOE. I will expound about the history of Neverland, but to me Neverland will always be “Second Star on the right and straight until morning.” I like the idea that fairy realms are hard to get into and there is a mundane BUT actual barrier or physical delineation between the human and fairy worlds. So for Stormhold, there’s a town call Wall with a physical stone wall that has a hole in it somewhere in East Riding. Neverland has to be flown to. Atlantica is in the ocean near Westerly but humans cannot go there without being escorted.

The Enchanted Forest I would place in Cinderellaburg and Charmington, or make it an extension of Sherwood Forest. I prefer the former, both stories are pretty classic Grimm’s Fairytales, so I see them housing the Enchanted Forest (see purple markings). I see it as a nature preserve where no one really LIVES there, it’s just a magical forest people tend to get lost in and therefore avoid it for the most part.

I see the magic population as being in the minority. With regulations, I see them not actually teaching the next generation magic at all (like with FGM and Jane). So if anyone has an inclination towards magic, they’d have to wait until they were older to get into MIM. So I more see any child with magic, their powers bound until they’re older.

The horror I feel for an anti-death curse/spell on the Isle is only second to raising dead villains, if I’m being honest.

So I sort of see having it because the idea is that they want these villains to be punished. That punishment will be rather short lived as I can see the villains killing each other for dominance. There’s also the issue of food. None of these villains are farmers. Farming is hard, and 20 years is not a long time to figure it out on their own and that’s assuming the land is even fertile. It’s constantly overcast because of the barrier, so I can’t see food growing well even if some henchmen also had knowledge of agriculture. And while they’re figuring it out, a lot of people probably would starve. So I see making it impossible to die as the panacea to cover all the sins of leaving psychotic, evil, and murderous people on an island together and wanting them to live.

The complete injustice of allowing children to be born and imprisoned for their parents crimes aside…

What’s horrifying is that you have no death, but still all this suffering. So food shortages, people trying to kill each other but failing, and then there is still the ability to breed. These people have children. So you’re stuck on an impoverished island where the population can get larger, but cannot even out with death. So each year the population gets more mouths to feed but no way to cull the heard. So as time goes on, there is an exponential possibility of starvation and every problem that comes with overpopulation.

It's made worse when in the books it’s indicated that the populace survives off of cast offs of the Mainland, this includes rotted food. So you have people who are probably getting food poisoning on a regular basis or starving, but unable to die. They have to live through every shitty day with no end in sight.

And what exactly would have happened if Ben never extended the offer for anyone to come to Auradon? The population just keeps getting bigger, the problems get worse, and you’re immortal? And then how many years need to pass before they figure out if this immortality stops the aging process at some point (assuming around 25 or so, where the body stops growing and “aging” really begins) or if you keep aging until you’re decrepit and still keep going? Even if there is an age limit to their immortality, they have to see their children grow and suffer and every generation after that? Like what is the end game here?

This isn’t just punishment, this is literally cruel and unusual.

Like if there were any questions as to whom the actual bad and evil guys are, it’s King Adam and Fairy Godmother.


	15. Isle of the Undying

Isle of the Undying, sounds cool as hell. No one steal it, I might use it. lol

 

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Answering BriEva again in a chapter because I think too damn much. lol

 

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Inheritable curses, definitely interesting. Very “sins of the father shall be laid upon the children.” I’m rather intrigued by the notion of not only villains paying the price of their villainy but those who have not yet lived must also pay. That is the core of fairy tales: there are rules, break them at your own risk. I saw that somewhere on Tumblr and I think that’s very poignant for this.

I wouldn’t consider Jay’s djinn heritage the same as inheriting a curse. We see that Jordan is a character from the franchise and she is the daughter of a freed genie who has genie powers (the fact that she grants wishes makes me think she’s a full genie). As I wrote it in LOE, Jafar is also a freed genie. The Isle strips them of magic, not their heritage. Mal is still a fairy although her mother has her powers stripped from her. So Jay would be on par with Jordan pre-freeing and Mal.

Ben inheriting beast traits, while the movie has him roaring I don’t know if that’s just him being weird or if he really inherited the curse or parts of it. There’s no other proof of that in the movies or books, at least not that I’ve seen or can recall. I do feel that is what they are implying though.

In LOE, Maleficent and Mal’s eyes glowing aren’t magic, they’re a biological reaction such as blushing. With Maleficent being able to mentally hurt Mal in Chapter 2, again I don’t see that as magic but a biological function unique to fairies. I don’t consider genie’s power to be magic, that “phenomenal cosmic power” is in a league of its own. Both Jafar and Jay as freed genies do not have abilities. So I would put magic and “semi phenomenal, semi cosmic powers” to be equal. I take no magic to mean no magic. Some may see the eye glowing and mental infliction of pain or granting wishes differently, but as the author that is what I meant. If most people would not come to the conclusion that I meant them to, then I would have to back track and add in elements where it was clearer.  

So inheriting curses isn’t canon in my mind, but it is something that you can easily infer for a fic. It’d definitely make for an interesting story.

The first theory has conflicting “layers” of magic happening. Logically, one layer nullifies the other (no magic nullifies curses), because regardless of which comes first, the no magic layer should make the curse moot. If it says no magic, then it should mean no magic. In this theory, no magic means mostly no magic. But if we take the no magic at its plain meaning, then if the curse came first, then the no magic made it go away. If the no magic layer came first then the curse wouldn’t penetrate. Supposedly the rule the franchise sets up is no magic on the Isle (Mal is able to do magic while in Auradon, the car rides on a magic bridge as they leave the Isle). Any magic inside should be nullified; unless it’s specifically stated that “most magic not on the Isle” but it’s not.

“There, underneath a protective that kept all manner of enchantment out…” De La Cruz, Melissa, The Isle of the Lost: A Descendants Novel, Prologue 1, Disney-Hyperion, 2017

The movie further states “This is my hood. No magic. No wi-fi. No way out.”

I think magic in literature tends to be pretty specific and literal, it’s usually why things go wrong. lol. What you’re suggesting is pretty nuanced, almost like a complex Boolean search: “No magic” NOT (death OR dying OR dead) AND Isle of the Lost NOT Auradon. lol I’m a nerd, I know.

I think the layering theory could only work with the no magic and barrier, assuming these are two different spells (as opposed to the theory that the barrier sucks out the magic and that’s what powers it). First layer no magic, just outside that is a barrier they can’t cross. It would explain how there is a weakness to the barrier. Between the magic layer and the barrier layer, regardless of how small the width is, the villains potentially could get their powers back. They just have to figure out how to make their powers work at 1/8th or less of a millimeter. lol

With LOE, we do see Jay not only gaining his genie heritage but able to grant wishes, even if it’s just Mal’s wishing for his freedom. I did this to show there were things more powerful than FGM and so her barrier and magic are not absolute against “phenomenal cosmic power.”

In the various expanded universe media (Books, School of Secrets, Wicked World, etc…) we see the presence of the Dragon’s Eye and talismans, which are magical in nature. The books don’t really explain why these specific magical items are able to pass into a barrier bespelled by someone who can trap a god. There’s some weak explanation that Maleficent’s escape caused a release of power and catacombs. But again, the barrier should have nullified any magic once it went back up.  We’re also seeing that Hades does in fact live on the isle, so when the barrier fell and Maleficent escaped, why didn’t Hades? The franchise is riddled with open ended bullshit.  

In order for theory 1 to work (for me) I’d need an explained reason why two conflicting spells are working in tandem. Maybe the barrier was FGM and the anti-death curse was a wish by a genie (who we need to assert is more powerful)?

I think we all know how I feel about FGM being able to trap gods BUT I do like theory 2: the unintended consequences of a supposed good deed, very “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” I would parse number 2 into two separate consequences or aspects.

  * Czernobog and Hades are trapped on an island without their powers. Their powers are over death, so no death can happen…anywhere while they are trapped on the isle. While Heroes like to romanticize that life is precious and must be protected at all costs, they don’t realize that there is no life without death. Without Villains, there are no Heroes. Instead of Death Takes a Holiday, Death is Imprisoned and they all pay for their hubris.
  * FGM by raising the dead has disrupted the natural order of things. Death is not her domain and she upset Fate by not only bringing people back to life, but those who were supposed to be dead and their line ended had create life. What we see in Greek myths is that even gods must bow to the whim of fate. “To the Moirai (Fates) the might of Zeus must bow; and by the Immortals’ purpose all these things had come to pass, or by the Moirai’s ordinance.” Quintus Smyrnaeus, _The Fall of Troy_. The universe is in chaos as it tries to correct itself. I’d love to read a story where FGM gets her comeuppance because she had pissed off the Fates or whatever higher power that evens gods must obey. Or where she meant it as a protection spell, but the people suffered without the peace of death, they escaped and now there are powerful immortals on the warpath. I may actually write this. lol



For Mal’s lifespan, I’m still not sure how inheriting an anti-death curse would have her age slower than the rest if fairies naturally have longer lifespans; I’m sorry if I’m reading your intent incorrectly.

In LOE my idea with the long lifespan combines the movie Maleficent and the original fairy tale where the castle sleeps for 100 yrs and Maleficent is there when they wake up looking the same. In the live action, we see Stefan (human) and Maleficent (fairy) roughly at the same age and then grow at the same rate. The live action made it seem like Aurora was only asleep for like ten minutes. We really don’t have a concept for how fairies age from the live action. I threw in long lifespan to account for the 100 years asleep but using Angelina Jolie’s Maleficent. Mal’s also half human, so I haven’t decided on how the longer lifespan will affect her.

Anyway, if fairies age regularly to keep them from being babies for decades, which I agree with in the sense of what we see with Maleficent live action and just choose to believe they live long, I’m not sure what that has to do with the anti-death curse. How I’m reading your assertion is that you think Mal ages slower because of the death curse on top of her longer lifespan, so when the others are 16 she would be like 10. I’m not sure how or why the curse would do that, unless it’s just an aspect of the curse and the nature of faries. Like fairies have to have this youthful longevity no matter what, so her fairy-ness causes her to age slower in order to add those youthful years back?

Unless you mean she gets to be the unlucky one to see her friends age and not die while she is physically young and doesn’t feel the horrors of the anti-death curse as soon and as hard as the others because she would have lived longer than them anyway? So you’re not saying she ages slower while she’s young due to the curse; she’s 16 while the others are 16. But at 90, she still looks 25 or some other noticeably younger form because she’s a fae but the others are immortal geriatrics.

Like regardless of the curse, if she does keep younger because she has an expanded lifespan then seeing her friends age while she doesn’t is going to be an issue. Them being immortal would add a particularly sucky layer to it, but I don’t think the anti-death curse is going to make much of a difference until years later.

If none of that is what you meant, sorry. lol.

Is the non-death curse from something in the franchise or purely from fanfiction? I haven’t seen it in any of the media I’ve seen or read, and I haven’t seen it in fanfiction. So I literally have nothing to make assumptions from. If the children being born different from a curse is how you want it to go or imagine it, then OK. That’s the beauty of fanfiction. If this is from the books and I just haven’t read it yet, then I’m missing a lot of context.

But if you’re asking me how I think this concept would go in a vacuum…then my answer is any way you want or no idea because I don’t know what limits there are other than what I’ve seen in canon. And you’re clearly working outside of canon the more we talk. lol. Even in this scenario, you say “It all comes down to the EXACT wording for the curse…” which you haven’t given me. And you say “you've got some Isle in you[r] soul” which doesn’t appear to be a quote from anything so I assume you’re using it as a scare quote, so this is part of an idea you had that you’re just now sharing with me.

Like with a curse on an island with no magic. To me, well that doesn’t make sense. Easy fix, the spell was nuanced and allowed this little bit of magic. Or in your layering theory, no magic except if it was already there. If that’s how magic works in the world you’re thinking of, then that’s how magic works, but you would have to tell me that. I wouldn’t make this conclusion on my own given canon or no other direction.

The same with how it would affect the children, there’s no defined way magic works in this scenario. So I can’t say how it would affect them physically. Like to me “not dying on the Isle” means just that, the plain meaning rule. No one can die. Aging isn’t part of dying. Growing isn’t part of dying. Being born isn’t party of dying. Dying or being dead is not being alive. So other than not being able to die, I don’t see any reason for it to affect them in any other way. Even with the two theories you put forth, I'm not seeing a reason why it would effect them physically.    

There’s always the completely legit, rigid, and binding precept of “Because I said so, stop thinking so deeply into it, gawd.” lol


	16. Fanfiction Questions from Criminal-minds-fanfiction tumblr Blog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm totally trying to procrastinate

[ ](https://tmblr.co/mG1fTD3N61wFLet4pdiCO8w) [criminal-minds-fanfiction](http://criminal-minds-fanfiction.tumblr.com/post/172926526725)

 

Fanfiction Writer Asks

Most of the writer ask posts I come across are only like ten or so questions long so I thought I’d try to make a longer one because we like talking about our writing! Feel free to reblog!

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1) How old were you when you first starting writing fanfiction?

2) What fandoms do you write for and do you have a particular favourite if you write for more than one?

3) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.

4) What is your favourite genre to write for?

5) If you had to choose a favourite out of all of your multi chaptered stories, which would it be and why?

6) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

7) When is your preferred time to write?

8) Where do you take your inspiration from?

9) In your xxx fic, what’s your favourite scene that you wrote?

10) In your xxx fic, why did you decide to end it like that? Did you have an alternative ending in mind?

11) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?

12) Who is your favourite character to write for? Why?

13) Who is your least favourite character to write for? Why?

14) How did you come up with the title for the xxx? - You can ask about multiple stories.

15) If you write OC’s, how do you decide on their names?

16) How did you come up with the idea for xxx?

17) Post a line from a WIP that you’re working on.

18) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

19) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?

20) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?

21) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

22) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?

23) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence?

24) How do you feel about writing smutty scenes?

25) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?

26) Which part of your xxx fic was the hardest to write?

27) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?

28) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fanfiction?

29) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

30) In contrast to 29 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?

31) Send me a fic recommendation and I’ll post it for my followers to see! (The asker is to send the rec not the answerer)

32) Are any of your characters based on real people?

33) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

34) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?

35) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?

36) Can you give us a spoiler for one of your WIP’s?

37) What’s the funniest story you’ve written?

38) If you could collab with any other writer on here, who would it be? (Perhaps this question will inspire some collabs!) If you’re shy, don’t tag the blog, just name it.

39) Do you prefer first, second or third person?

40) Do people know you write fanfiction?

41) What’s you favourite minor character you’ve written?

42) Song fic - What made you decide to use the song xxx for xxx.

43) Has anyone ever guessed the plot twist of one of your fics before you posted it?

44) What is the last line you wrote?

45) What spurs you on during the writing process?

46) I really loved your xxx fic. If you were ever to do a sequel, what do you think might happen in it?

47) Here’s a fic title - insert a made up title. What would this story be about?

48) What’s your favourite trope to write?

49) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

50) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?


	17. Audrey's Attitude About Men

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Answering BriEva

**BriEva wrote:**

**Crap something else popped into my head.**

**Audrey.**

**So, HOW much of the original Sleeping Beauty story will be applied to Aurora?**

**I already know that Maleficent's background was based [o]ff of the movie but what about Aurora?**

**The reason why I'm asking is because of Audrey's constant belief that she WILL be taken advantage of. That men will do this or that to her. I understand that Auradon Prep is based off of a religious school, and that as royal's they are expected to be virtuous.**

**But rereading it again, because I'm addicted, it once again dawned on m[e] how off Audrey's views on men [are]. Leading me to two concerns.**

**One, is that Aurora while sleeping was raped as in the original story and had multiple children. Which I don't know what happened to those kids. Either they starved to death or were taken somewhere and raised.**

**The other being that Prince Phillip is NOT a good man and Aurora does not love him as she used to.**

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I definitely don’t want to go as dark and rape-y as the Grimm version. I am mostly taking from the live action Maleficent for their back stories, twisted so it would fit into LOE. The only element I am taking from the cartoon/original story is the 100 years they slept under the curse, and that is to add to the dynamic of the relationship between Maleficent and Aurora’s family. It’ll be explained more in future chapters, so I don’t want to give too much away.

Audrey’s perception of men I think comes from the culture that she grew up in, rather than any firsthand experience her mother or anyone close to her has had. In real life, I think girls and women see a lot of this type of warning as they grow up, where the onus of sexual activity—even rape—is placed on their shoulders (“Why did you get drunk? What were you wearing?” etc…). And conversely, boys and men cannot be blamed for their actions—even rape—as they just do what is in their nature (“Boys will be boys”). While laws against rape are on the books, in practice it's the only crime where the victim has to prove their innocence before the accused. So women are told not to tempt or be alone with men. So anything that happens is their fault as they could have somehow avoided the situation.

I think this is pretty pervasive in modern culture.

So Audrey has grown up where she has to be ultra-aware and careful of what she does around men. Not only to avoid aggression, but as a female royal her “worth” is tied to her virtue. Now in the past, this not only stemmed from a religious aspect but also a practical one in terms of how men viewed women as property. Women, especially royal women, were not seen as wives in the sense of a life partner, but a woman who was theirs to run their castle and bear their heirs. Since they did not have paternity tests, virginity was stressed in women so as to not give doubt as to the sire of their children. If a woman was willing to sleep with more than one man, then it was near impossible to guarantee that the man wasn’t being cuckolded. There still was no guarantee even if the woman was a virgin at marriage, but the potential of a pretender to the throne or to an estate was seen as a great sin and put everything they had at risk; which is why you see (other than general misogyny) such a harsher reaction if a wife cheats rather than a husband. We’re always going to know who the mother is, if the father is in doubt then it could mean the end of dynasties and also lead to war over land/money/titles. So it’s one reason why women are given so many rules of conduct as to minimize any doubt.

And we see a particularly patriarchal dynamic in Auroria (based off live action Maleficent). King Henry had a legitimate daughter, and was NEVER going to leave his throne to her. We see while he is on his deathbed that he was supposed to name an heir, because of the war with the Moor he decided to give the kingdom to whomever could kill “the winged creature.” This to me suggests that before the conflict, he probably would have named a noble or one of his advisers, probably also nobly born. So not only would he not leave his kingdom to his legitimate only child, he had no problem leaving it to someone as lowborn as Stefan. So king Henry saw even an orphaned shepherd boy (who probably knows fuckall about diplomacy and running a kingdom) as more fit for his throne than a girl who had been born and raised royal AND of his own blood.

We also see this dynamic is accepted by the people of Auroria. They accepted Stefan as king, and even when he started to go mad they still followed him instead of trying to raise queen Leah as regent.

So for Auroria, we can see that not only is the line of succession strictly male primogeniture, it actively excludes women even in the instances of no other direct heir. And further, the king’s power is absolute. If the king says an orphan shepherd boy turned king’s groom can become king, then they obey. If the king goes mad trying to fight a powerful fairy, still they obey.

So what’s at stake for the throne of Auroria is absolute power, probably now only second to King Adam and his house, and all the wealth. For Audrey as the only child and female, she has to marry well as her husband will be the next king of Auroria. In order to marry well, she has to be seen as a perfect potential wife. Other kingdoms have the same issue, what is at stake is their title/land/money. So marrying well and having legitimate children is the only way to protect their inheritances. Husbands can sire an army of bastards, who cares. They know the mother is not their wife so their children can’t inherit. Wives, on the other hand, could try to pawn off a bastard as a legitimate heir. While we have paternity tests and whatnot now, if the husband doesn’t suspect anything then they probably would never know or even think to ask for one. So it’s always important to keep up a virtuous image.

Also this patriarchal dynamic bleeds into what women can expect from marriage. Where men hold all the real power, who is to gainsay them? So if they take multiple partners outside the marriage bed, who is to stop them? Queen Leah lay dying and Stefan still couldn’t be moved to see her. Leah was a princess and king Henry’s only daughter, she was passed over for an orphaned shepherd boy. Stefan banished his daughter to live with fairies, who knows if Leah had any choice in that—I highly doubt it. So I see Audrey learning she has no real power, and if her husband is to stray from the marriage bed then she must accept it and still act with grace and dignity because she is a royal. I mostly see her learning this from Leah, not Aurora.


	18. Sorry for the Delay

I want to start off by telling you all how much I appreciate all the reviews and encouragement to keep writing. It means so much to me and you guys are the best!

So I can’t blame just one thing for the massive delay. It’s been a mix of no motivation, holidays, finals, seasonal depression, and getting sucked into other fandoms.

The last one you can blame on My Hero Academia and American Horror Story. The latter I even started two new fics because I was so obsessed. For MHA I have two pretty in-depth outlines for fics but I’m hesitant/scared to delve into anime fanfiction. I won’t lie, the anime realm intimidates me.  I’m still obsessed with both, but I am trying to make it a point to finish LOE/focus on Descendants.

There were also some heavy parts to this chapter that I didn’t want to half ass or rush through. So I kept getting stuck and couldn’t make myself push through.

But we’re getting really close to D3 coming out, there have even been new trailers and promo pics, so that did put my feet to the fire. So I’m learning the hard way for delaying is that I’m trying to race against the next movie coming out. I had wanted to finish, but I highly doubt that’ll happen now. Like no matter what, my story is an AU and it will not follow the third movie; at least I can’t imagine there will be anything I would want to use. BUT that’s the price I’ll be paying for not getting this story done when I wanted to. The new canon might totally throw me for a loop, it may affect my original direction I wanted for this story. I won’t know until I see it and how it makes me feel.

There are also some things that I had in mind that Disney may have also thought of, but I wouldn’t be “first” so people may think that I’m ripping it from them. For example, in Ch 12 there is an element I had come up on my own and separate, but the new trailer beat me to it. But that’s life.

I also had this fear that people would stop caring about the fics and wouldn’t bother with the updates because they couldn’t remember what happened and wouldn’t want to reread. That happens to me with fics, especially really big fandoms where I may be reading similar stories because I gravitate towards certain tropes. It’s especially true for the Game of Thrones fandom. I’d like to think my fic is original and unique enough that it stands out no matter how long I go between updates, but I also don’t want to rely on that and keep you guys waiting.

As for depression, for anyone who has had it knows that it can literally suck the joy of something you love. Like for two months, I’d sit with the doc open and try to get that excited joyful feeling of putting my idea into words and it just wouldn’t come to me. Depression can make you feel nothing. I’m not talking about sadness, which I think is a misconception with depression. I’m talking about like all consuming apathy where you don’t feel anything about anything. And there’s nothing you can do about it because it comes and goes in cycles and you just have to wait until you feel that joy again.

As for the rest, that’s just real life and fanfiction is not the most important thing in my life. I love to write and I love you guys, but I love making sure my future doesn’t involve starving and poverty more. Lol

So I hope you all understand and enjoy the story!

 


	19. Magic in Law and Chad Charming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: I take things way too seriously. lol

**BriEva:** **Which, reminds me, if they had allowed a magical investigation should they have been able to use a spell to find whose tear was in the spell? I think they assume it was Jane but eh. Why not check to confirm?**

The problem with magic is that it could literally be used as a deus ex machina and solve literally any issue, but that kind of deflates the tension in stories lol. Like there are so many ways they maybe could have found out about Audrey via magic. Like a truth spell could have easily exonerated Jane from taking the entire blame.

But 1) I don't want to make it that easy. I think Audrey getting away with it reflects her privilege and the unfair bias against the fae. And 2) again magic is not something Auradon at large wants to utilize.

Given how I want magic to be complex (instead of, it happens because it's magic and I said so), I also don't see a "logical" way to figure out it was Audrey's tear other than to use a "it's magic, don't think about it/take it at face value" excuse. The tear was transformed into a cookie, so I don't really see any genetic markers or the like surviving the transformation and linking it to Audrey. 

Even if there was such a complex spell, I think Audrey is like Teflon - nothing sticks to her. Besides providing the tear, roses, and silver plate, I don't see how any spell would point to Audrey as she didn't do any magic. They could know the items belonged to Audrey, but owning random items isn't illegal and it's circumstantial evidence at best. If she could convince the authorities that Jane had stolen the roses and her silver plate, then it wouldn't be that farfetched that she could convince them that Jane had stolen a tear somehow (i.e. Jane stole a used tissue Audrey used to dab tears away or because the spell didn’t work as planned, maybe there was no tear). Even if they somehow could prove she willingly gave the tear, then they have to prove that she knew it was for a love spell. 

You also have to remember that Jane had gotten rid of the cookies, so there was nothing to analyze anyway other than Ben himself, which Nadine had removed the spell before he got to the hospital. With magic poisoning, I don't see them saying "Hey, I know this is making you sick and could be potentially fatal but hold on one second while I do some other magic test." I figure Ben's safety is paramount. So with the spell gone, I'm not sure what they're analyzing other than a digested cookie, which was probably too far into his system to retrieve and analyze even if he had been forthcoming right away about what he ate and who gave it to him. 

I also see using magic in law as having many civil rights issues and Auradon has tons of regulations pertaining to magic. I assume Auradon has some form of Miranda Rights, you have the right to remain silent and forcing the truth from you would violate that. Even in Harry Potter, the use of veritaserum was supposedly heavily regulated and is never really explicitly stated under what circumstances it was allowed to be used in. I see Audrey's family vehemently opposing any use of magic on their daughter, and I would figure there is probably some legal threshold they would have to meet in order to even consider compelling the use of truth magic; which I don’t see them meeting with just Jane’s word that Audrey was involved and items she may or may not have stolen.  

Then there is convincing a jury that the magic being used is reliable. In Harry Potter, there are ways around veritaserum. Jane's credibility is shot, so an attorney would just have to imply that she knows how to circumvent a truth serum or that it's a possibility. Or you have to say the serum itself is unreliable. With a society that doesn't trust magic, I can see any testimony under a truth spell being easily thrown out.

So long story short, Jane was screwed from the get-go and Audrey getting in trouble, barring a taped recording, was never going to happen. 

*****

 **The Queen of Thornes** : **Kinda want to see more of Chad interacting with the Isle kiddos, cause really, with who his mother is, he would know all about abusive families and how to recognize when someone is traumatized due to their past. That was one thing that really bugged me about the movies - I mean, I absolutely refuse to believe that Cinderella's son could grow up to be such a vapid idiot.**

I do plan on having some more Chad interactions but to play devil's advocate for "superficial Chad:"

According to the Descendant’s Wikia, Audrey is spoiled because Aurora was determined for her to have the perfect childhood “free of anything evil or loveless.” Given how vain and spoiled Chad is, I kind of figure he was in the same boat. If Cinderella shields Chad from the harsh truth of her time with her stepmother, and his extremely privileged upbringing then I can see how he can be so self-absorbed. Him knowing the signs of abuse would take pretty developed empathy and knowledge of psychology; and that’s assuming Cinderella had been honest about what she went through. Even if she had, I don't see her really burdening him with her issues by going into extreme detail. And even if she had, I just don’t know how much that would sink in for him and at his age. Chad is her son and she loves him, she wants to protect him and probably doesn't see her issues as something he should have to shoulder until he’s older, if ever.

And between the time she was rescued and when she had Chad and he could understand what was going on, she probably dealt with a majority of any issues she has with a professional (or she’s been suppressing it down and is really good about putting on a front). It might not have been obvious to Chad what exactly his mother went through if she has dealt with her issues and copes in healthy ways or is hiding them from him. Like he's heard the stories, but all he knows is his beautiful kind mother is queen and always has been to him because that’s all she lets him see.

So, the question is, how often do parents really open up to their kids about any past abuse? If they do, what age should they do it at? Chad is only 17, so I would think the appropriate age was recently if it happened at all. 

Let’s say she was honest in an appropriate way so Chad could learn/know empathy and compassion, he still might not recognize signs from the Isle Four as their abuse is different than Cinderella's. The psychology of abuse and victims of abuse are super complex issues, I really wouldn't expect a teenager would be able to diagnose anything in even his own mother (unless she was coping badly and in obviously detrimental ways or he had some in depth training from a psychologist), much less four people he barely knows. Chad really doesn't interact with the Isle Four, and when he does it's pretty superficial. And reaction to abuse can manifest in so many different ways in different people. This is especially true with gender and age differences. The Isle Four are also "fresh" from this abuse and still working through it, Cinderella is an adult. I would think any signs he has second hand knowledge of, might not translate to something he'd recognize in the Isle Four.

Plus, Lady Tremaine is the villain in Cinderella’s story and she was on the Isle. Everyone on the Isle is a villain. I think I've shown that Ben is one of the few who do not see the children as automatic villains. Chad, like others, have a bias against the Isle and that bleeds into the children that were born there. It’s worse because he’s a child of one of the villain’s victims. There's a phrase I keep having them repeat "Bad Blood Will Out." So even if Chad could admit that the Isle Four haven't shown any villain tendencies now, part of him believes eventually they will. People born of bad blood eventually turn out bad, they can't help it. Conversely, they've been raised that those born with "good blood" or noble blood are naturally superior and born good. I don’t know yet how much Chad would care if he did know they were abused.

So as vapid as Chad is, I think he comes by it honestly. Lol

Does anyone have different thoughts?


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